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beadypea's review against another edition
4.0
FINALLY finished this behemoth! I could only read a little at a time because the narrator's anxiety brain was a little too much like mine: fretting about her kids, backyard chickens, the current political climate and gun culture, and thinking more than is probably healthy about the Little House books.
bojangacic's review against another edition
5.0
The fact that my laptop won't fully recharge, seems to have plateaued at 80%, not that it affects my life, still it would be assuring to see something working at full capacity, especially in this time, the fact that it's Day 32 of quarantine, my mind wanders, quibbles, ricocheting off info galore, virus, pandemic, epidemic, tests, no tests, respirators, peak infection, upward curve, restrictions, upcoming weeks, isolation, sweat beads running down official's foreheads, the fact that maybe that's what life is all about, chasing that 20% if we're fortunate enough, Jazz Radio, Nat King Cole, L is for the way you look at me, miniature schnauzer, the fact that we are going through an unprecedented crisis of intelect, pandemic aside, people unable to process their thoughts, parents unnerved by the constant presence of their own children, small spaces, domestic abuse, taut, friction, miscommunication, the fact that Ducks, Newburyport is a magnum opus of the modern mind, yours and mine, our, ours, bombarded with information, often hectic, in need of organising, categorising, compartmentalising, optimising, the fact a 1000 page run-on sentence is a daunting prospect, rather subscribe to a new streaming service, rather rewatch episodes I can quote in entirety, yes, they were on a break, we get it, Miles Davis, It Never Entered my Mind, the fact that the writing does get repetitive, thoughts tend to be repetitive, nevertheless, it's a monumental dissertation on the contemporary mental dynamic, the fact that you don't need to understand every nuance, obscurity is part of the appeal, but it is a mental work-out, reading this book, many won't be ready to comit, the fact that the MAN Booker Prize panel seems to have exhausted its capacity to award "thick" books with The Luminaries, being shortlisted doesn't project the same public image as winning, loser, tremendous, the fact we watch too much and read too little, a plot of the mind left unattended, Sinatra is singing on different stage and ours is brimming with one-hit wonders, 24-hour news cycles, politicians clinging to a podium with the tenacity once reserved for mother's teet, douchebag in situ, the fact that Ducks, Newburyport merits the readers' time and effort, just start reading it, you'll see it's not intimidating at all, kudos to Lucy Ellmann and her publishers for demanding of us to think in a time when we are too often encouraged not to.
tashalostinbooks's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
april_siese's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
sunn_bleach's review against another edition
challenging
funny
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Goddamn. Okay, first - there is a plot here, and you'll see it as you work through our Midwestern-by-transfer Molly Bloom's psychoses and obsessions. But just like "Ulysses" (God, what a comparison), you're getting into the absoluteness of a single life. Tons of references, foibles, worries, obsessions, and ennuis that wouldn't make a lick of sense to anybody who isn't her - and that's the point. You're not supposed to get it all, other than the deep stress of mere existence in 2019 Ameri[c/k]a.
So, at 700 pages in, it clicked. Yeah there's an undercurrent of suburban angst through this, but as it progresses I realize it's much more than that. It's the kind of excoriation of the destruction of civilization and settlement, especially the myths that we tell ourselves as Americans both the topical one of our "taming of the land", but also the deeper myth that we can live sustainably. And we can't! We've destroyed it. Our backyards and homes are ecological wastelands with sterile lawns. Did you know there used to be buffalo in Ohio until the early 1830s? Now it's parking lots everywhere, and it's called a triumph of humanity.
In this book, there's a story about a mountain lion and her cubs on the edge of humanity - in the beginning, it's unclear where she is as it sounds like it's on the savannah, but she interacts with humans more and more until her cubs are taken from her by "do-gooders" who think they're lost kittens. This tension on the edge of nature and humanity - really a destroyed nature with a lion so desperate to say the land is still hers - becomes the undercurrent of our Ohio housewife's monologue, where everything she feels and says has the undercurrent of a painful awareness that this land is a lie, it was built on lies, and her fears and worries are reflective of the more insidious alienation that is at the very heart of the American Myth.
All because I said I liked "Satantango" earlier this year and one of my buddies was like "hey so there's this book on ducks you might want to check out..."
So, at 700 pages in, it clicked. Yeah there's an undercurrent of suburban angst through this, but as it progresses I realize it's much more than that. It's the kind of excoriation of the destruction of civilization and settlement, especially the myths that we tell ourselves as Americans both the topical one of our "taming of the land", but also the deeper myth that we can live sustainably. And we can't! We've destroyed it. Our backyards and homes are ecological wastelands with sterile lawns. Did you know there used to be buffalo in Ohio until the early 1830s? Now it's parking lots everywhere, and it's called a triumph of humanity.
In this book, there's a story about a mountain lion and her cubs on the edge of humanity - in the beginning, it's unclear where she is as it sounds like it's on the savannah, but she interacts with humans more and more until her cubs are taken from her by "do-gooders" who think they're lost kittens. This tension on the edge of nature and humanity - really a destroyed nature with a lion so desperate to say the land is still hers - becomes the undercurrent of our Ohio housewife's monologue, where everything she feels and says has the undercurrent of a painful awareness that this land is a lie, it was built on lies, and her fears and worries are reflective of the more insidious alienation that is at the very heart of the American Myth.
All because I said I liked "Satantango" earlier this year and one of my buddies was like "hey so there's this book on ducks you might want to check out..."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Gun violence, and Murder
thepageunfolds's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
OMG!!! I can’t believe this. This is no less than an achievement. To read Ducks, Newburyport is a journey, an experience in itself. Nothing like I ever read before. Very tough to get through at times yet the pages flew by on some days. There is no plot, there is no character development. It’s stream of consciousness. I can’t say I loved it. I can’t say I hated it. However, I can say I went in with too many expectations, I did expect the ending to atleast wrap up what this 1000 page was trying to cover. It didn’t, the last line was also a monologue. I think this book wasn’t for me or may be I wasn’t ready for Ducks, Newburyport YET.
leniverse's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
damara_reads's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
journeyingjeff's review against another edition
3.0
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this ambitious, stream-of-consciousness book and its meanderings through so many aspects of American culture (good, bad and ugly). About 2/3 of the way through, I felt like the author had made her point, developed her characters and themes, but was not advancing the narrative anywhere and hitting the same topics over and over again. I think it would have been a stronger book if Ellman's editor and forced her to cut it down by 1/3 or more. I suggest reading a few pages and see if it grabs you.